Party Outcasts
The Underrepresentation of Female Parliamentarians in Belize
by Jessica Habet A Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts
Political Science
Memorial University of Newfoundland November, 2014
St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador
Abstract
Adding to the feminist literature on women’s underrepresentation in parliaments around the world, this thesis presents Belize as an elucidative case. Primary and secondary data were used to identify the barriers to women’s electoral success. Interviews were conducted between May 2013 and February 2014 in Belize. An extensive review on feminist literature outlined three types of barriers: (1) cultural; (2) structural; and (3) institutional. The literature and primary data led to the conclusion that the largest barrier in Belize is institutional where the political party is the critical gatekeeper to women’s success.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the School of Graduate Studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland who allowed me to pursue research in an area dear to me through their fellowship programme. I especially want to thank Dr. Amanda Bittner, who has guided me throughout the writing process. Igniting my interest in women’s studies during my undergraduate degree, directing me towards literature, reviewing my work meticulously, and offering support and advice, Dr. Bittner’s supervision has been instrumental in producing this thesis.
I would also like to thank the women I interviewed for their insight into Belize’s political landscape. Their participation has helped me demystify the intricacies of Belizean politics. Because they have shared their experiences, they have allowed me to offer that knowledge to the public through this thesis. For that, I am grateful.
Lastly, I would like to thank my friends and family who have kept me grounded with check-ups and words of encouragement.
List of Acronyms
BWPC Belize Women’s Political Caucus
CARICOM Caribbean Community
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women
CEO Chief Executive Officer
FPTP First-Past-the-Post
GOB Government of Belize
International IDEA International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
IPU Inter-Parliamentary Union
LAPOP Latin American Public Opinion Project
NWC National Women’s Commission
OAS Organization of American States
PRC Political Reform Commission
PR Proportional Representation
PUP People’s United Party
SIB Statistical Institute of Belize
SMD Single-Member District
UDP United Democratic Party
UNDP United Nation Development Programme
UNIBAM United Belize Advocacy Movement
UWG United Women’s Group
WIN Women Issues Network
WIP Women In Politics
Table of Contents
Abstract ... ii
Acknowledgements ... iii
List of Acronyms ... iv
Introduction ... 3
Her Stories ... 3
Making Space ... 7
Chapter 1: The Belizean Context ... 8
Organization and Methodology ... 11
Chapter 2: Understanding Women’s Underrepresentation around the World 12 Cultural Barriers ... 13
A tool-‐kit ... 13
Religion ... 15
Structural Barriers ... 16
Education ... 17
Employment ... 20
Income ... 21
Institutional Barriers ... 21
Electoral System ... 21
Gender Quotas ... 24
Political Parties ... 25
Chapter 3: A Gender-‐Equality Culture ... 29
Chapter 4: Structurally Unsound ... 41
Education ... 41
Educated and Unemployed ... 44
Financially Insecure ... 45
Chapter 5: Political Institutions ... 47
Belize’s Pseudo-‐democracy ... 48
Political Parties: Setting the Tone ... 49
The FPTP: Facilitating the Old Boys’ Club ... 56
The Foot Soldiers ... 60
Corruption: The Password to the Old Boys’ Club ... 61
Chapter 6: Disempowering the Selectorate ... 74
Bibliography ... 78
Appendices ... 86
Appendix I ... 86
Appendix II ... 91
Appendix III ... 95
Introduction
The fight for gender-equality worldwide has substantially improved the status of women. But women’s journey from marginalization to lionization continues to be a formidable struggle. Politics epitomizes the hardship. Women’s achievement in other fields reveals a drastic contrast to their paucity in parliament. While glass ceilings continue to challenge women in many areas, politics is the “hardest, highest glass ceiling”
(Hilary Clinton, Concession Speech, 7 June 2008). Globally, women are severely underrepresented in nationally elected office. The lack of women at the highest levels of decision-making has triggered worldwide concern because it threatens democratic legitimacy. Democracy operates on the central principle that the decisions made on behalf of people must be made by people that represent their interests. Although international discourse, such as the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), cites the importance of women in parliament, countries continue to share a lack of women in the highest stage of decision-making.
The global phenomenon has spurred extensive research which has offered a multitude of explanations. Many place the onus on women. With only one woman elected to the House of Representatives, a case study of Belize provides insight into modern-day obstacles to women in politics, reaffirming and defying the existent literature.
Her Stories
During the August 7, 2013 sitting of the House of Representatives, Honourable Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, an Opposition member, questioned the Sergeant at Arms’
character. She stated that not only had he been convicted for assaulting a woman, but he had also publicly urinated in front of the House while inebriated (7 News, 8 August 2013;
News 5, 8 August 2013). Before she finished speaking, she was interrupted by ruling party member Minister Michael Finnegan, who yelled across the room, “Is the lady finished? You are crude; you are a crude woman!” He asked her if she had seen the size of the officer’s penis when she witnessed his public urination. In addition to his inappropriate question, he threatened her, “And the things I know about your husband;
you ought to be careful.” (7 News, 8 August 2013). Finnegan was not reprimanded for the outburst. Instead, a video1 of the sitting reveals Prime Minister Dean Barrow and Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega laughing at the display. The Prime Minister interjected and accused Balderamos-Garcia of “character assassination” (Ramos, Amandala, 13 August 2013). Balderamos-Garcia repeatedly expressed concern about the outbreak at the sitting, but the Speaker did not admonish Finnegan. No member, not even those from her own party, defended her against the blatant verbal assault. The Speaker himself remained silent as the lone female member was publicly humiliated on national television.
The day after the incident, the women’s group of the official Opposition, the People’s United Party (PUP), held a press conference demanding that Finnegan apologize to Balderamos-Garcia and resign from his position. The group’s president, Wendy Castillo, stated that “Finnegan gave Belizean women a vivid colourful display of the kind of shameful treatment they justly seek to avoid when entering politics” (7 News, 12 August 2013). Balderamos-Garcia shared that she was hesitant to return to the House (7 News, 12 August 2013). More women’s groups joined in the outrage, but Finnegan did not resign. He refused to apologize to his colleague. Even though Prime Minister Barrow
1 The video can be found at the URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgw5BRBcv_w
was recorded laughing during Finnegan’s attack, he directed the minister to issue an apology. Following orders, Finnegan called a national radio station to apologize to the Speaker of the House, the members of his party, and the members of the Opposition. He did not apologize to Balderamos-Garcia. Instead, he insisted that she apologize to the Sergeant at Arms (Wake Up Belize, Krem Radio, 12 August 2013; News 5, 13 August 2013). In an interview with media house 7 News (12 August 2013), he told the reporter that “politics is a big man game.” The issue thereafter dissipated.
Belize annually recognizes March as Women’s Month. In spite of that, then- president Gina Tillet of the United Women’s Group (UWG) of the PUP was publicly humiliated on the front page of a national newspaper in March 2011. The Guardian, the media organ of the United Democratic Party (UDP), published an unflattering photo of Tillet in which she was sitting on the floor with her legs apart and a bottle in between them. Stamped across the photo was the caption “PUP Role Model.” The photo was not relevant to any news story about Tillet. Instead, the accompanying story was about her brother who pleaded guilty to abusing his common-law wife. The umbrella organization for women’s groups, Women’s Issues Network (WIN), along with UWG, reprimanded the publisher Alfonso Noble. Lisa Shoman, an Opposition Senator, told media houses that the photo had one purpose: “to attempt to humiliate and degrade the President of the United Women’s Group of the People’s United Party” (7 News, 23 March 2011). UWG and WIN demanded an apology from the publisher and the UDP, but they received none.
Noble responded, “I don't think that I, in any way, violated her, if we were to look back and see the origin of that picture. That picture had its genesis at Facebook...I will not offer
Belize held its first women’s empowerment rally on March 6, 2014. The rally was organized by the National Women’s Commission (NWC), the women’s department of the Government of Belize, and the Special Envoy for Women and Children, Prime Minister Barrow’s wife Kim Simplis-Barrow. The name of the rally was “20,000 strong” and invited women from all six districts to travel to Belize City for a day of empowerment where successful women would deliver inspiring speeches. The organizers invited Honourable Balderamos-Garcia to present a speech as the only woman in the House. She rejected the invitation:
I was personally invited but I don’t take decisions just on my own. I have to consult with the Party Leader. I have to consult with the leaders of the party, and we had to take a decision to respectfully not participate, but mainly because we believe that it is not something that is real. It is not something that is going to change the lives of women in our country. (Plus TV, 5 March 2014)
Women of the Opposition did not attend, except for Patty Arceo, a former member of the House of Representatives. She expressed the importance of unifying women as a collective in Belize and rallied women from the division she previously represented to attend (Arceo, Personal Interview, 24 February 2014).
In addition to the bipartisan conflict, the Roman Catholic Church expressed opposition against the rally because the “invitation does not speak to the complementary role between men and women as taught to us by Christ through Her Church” (Bishop Dorick Wright, Roman Catholic Church Press Release, 5 March 2014). The press release, issued on the day before the rally, also spoke against the NWC because of its stance on equality among sexual orientations. The rally expressed no motives other than the empowerment of women as a collective. The Special Envoy, Kim Simplis-Barrow, appeared on television to express her disappointment at the Church, particularly since she
was not contacted with any concerns before the statement was released (Open Your Eyes, 6 March 2014).
Each of these incidents illustrates the attitudes towards the advancement of women in Belize. In each story, the political party plays a role. Party loyalty and party rivalry shape how members treat each other, their opponents, and the Belizean public.
The influence of party politics pervades every part of Belizean society where the majority of citizens strongly identify with one of the two dominant parties2. Political parties monopolize the political space. A change in government drastically changes the composition within social classes and reassigns social status; the shift in power relations is visible and cyclical, occurring each time the incumbent party is defeated. Daily issues are politicized. The party’s power is exemplified in its role as gatekeeper to elected office.
Making Space
What obstacles hinder women from entering electoral politics in Belize? In this thesis, I show how the political party is the largest barrier to female political representation in Belize. The political party sets the political culture which interacts with the rules of politics in Belize to create an atmosphere which excludes women. I focus on state government level, specifically the House of Representatives because it is the single national representative body of people directly elected by the citizenry. The other chamber of the bicameral legislature is an appointed Senate. The first chapter is descriptive. I set the context in which politics occurs. In Chapter 2, I identify and analyze the leading explanations of female representation worldwide. I divide the literature into
2 The United Democratic Party (UDP) and the People’s United Party (PUP) are the two dominant parties in
three types of barriers: (1) cultural (2) structural and (3) institutional. In Chapter 3, I analyze the impact of Belize’s machismo culture, influenced by its geographical location in Latin America, the presence of Hispanics and Mayans, and its self-identification as a Caribbean country. In Chapter 4, I examine structural barriers, in particular three socioeconomic resources considered crucial for women seeking office: (1) education (2) employment and (3) income. In Chapter 5, I show that institutional barriers, specifically the political party, are the largest obstacles to women’s electoral success. I argue that even in spite of a culture moving towards egalitarianism and in spite of women’s progress in education and within the labour force, cultural and structural advancements are insufficient for electoral success. Ultimately, the political party chooses whom to recruit and nominate. Cultural and structural improvements essentially become negligible in a system where unregulated male-dominated political parties control access to political space. My final chapter is the conclusion where I recommend the implementation of institutions that can counteract the dominance of the political parties.
Chapter 1: The Belizean Context
Belize is a small multicultural, multilingual, and multi-ethnic state located on the Caribbean coast in Central America. The Caribbean country, bordered by Guatemala and Mexico, is the only English-speaking nation in the Latin American region. English Creole is widely spoken throughout the country. Belize is often lumped together with other Latin American countries or overlooked in scholarly political research. With a population of approximately 300,000 people, Belize is home to several cultures and ethnic groups which include Mestizos, Creole, Mayas, Garifunas, East Indians and Mennonites (Census
of Belize, 2010). Spanish is heavily spoken in the Northern districts of Corozal and Orange Walk which consists mainly of Mestizos, a mix of Spanish and Yucatan Maya;
Garifuna is spoken in the Southeastern district of Stann Creek where the Garifuna first settled; different forms of Mayan are spoken in Mayan communities dispersed throughout the country.
Gaining independence from Britain in 1981, Belize is a member of the British Commonwealth. Unlike its neighbours but similar to the Anglophone Caribbean, Belize is a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system. The Executive Branch consists of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. A 31-member elected House of Representatives and a 12-member appointed Senate compose a bi-cameral legislature.
General elections are held every five years. Two political parties are dominant: the People’s United Party (PUP) and the United Democratic Party (UDP). The PUP was Belize’s first nationalist party. Rt. Hon. George Price, a founding member of the party, is considered the “Father of the Nation” for having led Belize to independence. The UDP formed as an amalgamation of three parties which had formed in opposition to the PUP and has been the ruling party for the last two consecutive terms under Prime Minister Dean Barrow (2008-20123 and 2012-2017). Since independence, seven general elections have been held: the PUP won four and the UDP won three. Formally, democracy prevails in Belize; substantively, major issues threaten true democracy (Vernon, 2012).
Over seven general elections, only five women have ever been elected to the House of Representatives. That means men have represented 97.1% of elected representatives while women have represented a mere 2.9% (NWC & UNDP, 2012).
Additionally, men represented 94.4% of the total number of candidates while women represented only 5.6% (NWC & UNDP, 2012). In the most recent general elections held in March 2012, the ruling UDP did not present any female candidates; the PUP Opposition ran three women. Of those three women, one woman sits at the House of Representatives. The frighteningly low number of women in government since independence has gained attention from the international community, stimulating interest from women’s groups in Belize. Still, women’s descriptive representation has yet to be addressed in political campaigns and platforms. Women remain neglected, both now and historically.
An anomaly in the region, suffrage was simultaneously granted to both men and women in 1954 when Belize (then British Honduras) held its first general election. This makes it particularly challenging to apply literature on neighbouring Latin American countries, where the movement for women’s suffrage was slow and difficult, to Belize which did not need such a movement. Additionally, Belize has not experienced any authoritarian or military regimes like its Latin American neighbours and has never experienced armed conflict. During the Cold War, Belize did not yield to any Communist regime and was firmly in America’s democratic bloc. That further separates it from Latin America. Despite these significant historical differences, little research has been conducted on Belize’s political culture, making the country a blind spot in academic research.
Today, Belize is plagued by various social issues. It has been ranked as the third most dangerous country in the world, with 44.7 murders for every 100,000 inhabitants (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2014). In another report, Belize is the lowest
performing country from the region in “Women in parliament indicators” (World Economic Forum, 2013). Forty-one percent of the population is below the poverty line (CIA Factbook, 2013). Drugs present a major problem for Belize as the Mexican cartel and other Central American drug gangs penetrate the country’s borders. Belize has one of the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in Central America. The country also experiences corruption, clientelism, as well as a high unemployment rate and domestic violence rate.
Organization and Methodology
In the following chapters, I apply the literature on cultural, structural, and institutional barriers to Belize to answer the question, “What is the largest hindrance to women’s political representation?”
I use news reports and newspaper articles to apply the literature to Belize in addition to books and academic articles that focus on Belizean women and Belizean political culture. I employ survey data from the 2012 Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) on Belize to gauge general attitudes towards women in politics. To augment the secondary data, I use ten in-depth personal interviews conducted in Belize between May 2013 and February 2014. Five interviews were with women who ran for office: Patty Arceo, Alifa Elrington-Hyde, Anna Banner Guy, Anne-Marie Williams, and Chandra Cansino. Patty Arceo is one of the five women elected to the House of Representatives since Belize’s independence in 1981. She served under the PUP for the term 1998-2003. Alifa Elrington-Hyde is a current Belize City councillor; Anna Banner Guy is a current Belmopan City councillor. Anne-Marie Williams has run for municipal elections and at multiple UDP political conventions. Chandra Cansino ran for her
interviewed an appointed Senator who asked to remain anonymous. Of the remaining four interviews, one interview was used to gauge political ambition. I recruited a woman in law, a profession considered to precede a career in politics (Lawless & Fox, 2010). To further understand the status of women in Belize, I interviewed Carolyn Reynolds, the Director of Women’s Issues Network (WIN) which is the umbrella organization of all women’s groups in Belize. I also interviewed a consultant knowledgeable on Belize’s political landscape who asked to remain anonymous. I interviewed Anne-Marie Williams who serves as the Executive Director of the National Women’s Commission, the governmental organization for women’s issues. Lastly, I interviewed a woman in one of the highest tiers of decision-making within government; her position is appointed. She asked to remain anonymous.
Chapter 2: Understanding Women’s Underrepresentation around the World
In spite of women composing half of the world’s population, they only make up 21.9% of parliaments around the globe (Inter-Parliamentary Union, 24 July 2014). The global phenomenon is magnified in the developing country of Belize. Belize has the lowest percentage of women in parliament in the both the Caribbean and Latin American region (Inter-Parliamentary Union, 24 July 2014). The small Commonwealth state had no elected women in its parliament the term prior to the most recent general elections. This common feature among most democracies worldwide leads to one question: Why? In this literature review, I evaluate the pertinent leading explanations of why women are not
active in electoral politics. I focus on three types of barriers identified within the literature: (1) cultural (2) structural and (3) institutional.
Cultural Barriers A tool-‐kit
The definition of culture is elusive. It includes people’s customs, traditions, and mass attitudes (Norris & Ingehart, 2008). But culture is not a unified system that guides action. Instead, culture is a tool-kit from which individuals choose a specific line of action (Swidler, 1986). The view of culture as a tool-kit contradicts Max Weber’s view of culture where people’s interests determine their actions. I use Ann Swidler’s “tool-kit”
conceptualization in my thesis because it creates a framework that explains why people choose actions that contradict their cultures. People do not rationally choose each of their actions, as Weber’s theory proposes. Action is “necessarily integrated into larger assemblages” which Swidler terms “strategies of action” (2000: 276) where strategies are a “general way of organization action” (2000: 277). Because these strategies rely on people’s habits, moods, and world views, culture has an independent causal role. Culture influences the actions through the organization of these strategies. Culture confers meanings onto our actions, creating a context for the things we do and say. It contributes to how we view gender-equality and whether it is promoted, rejected or simply ignored.
Culture manifests itself is through gender-roles. Stereotypes and expectations of men and women are part of the tool-box each person has. Women have historically been assigned to the roles of mother and wife, relegated to the private sphere while men orbit all spheres. An editorial written in the 1980s explains the “separate world of men and
The virtually seamless web of child-attendance, house-cleaning, shopping, helping out one’s neighbours, and so on which makes up a housewife’s working day performance creates around her a mini-universe of those with shared preoccupations. Even a woman in waged employment re-enters this world the moment she leaves the workplace (History Workshop, 1983: 2)
This binary division persists more than thirty years later. In the United States, the number of successful female professionals leaving their careers to fulfill traditional roles is increasing (Lawless & Fox, 2012:9). Our acceptance of gender-roles is evident when employers discriminate against women in fear that they will become pregnant and go on maternity leave. In American law firms a mere 20% of partner positions are held by women (American Bar Association, July 2014). American politics further shows how entrenched traditional roles are. When Hilary Clinton’s daughter announced her pregnancy, Clinton was dubbed “Nana President” and her competency to be a leader and grandmother simultaneously was questioned. Grand-parenting while in office has not been problematic for male candidates.
If a culture is firmly patriarchal, not only is an electorate less likely to vote for a female candidate but a woman is less likely to run. If a woman does run, she will find it difficult to gain financial support as donors may lack confidence in her ability to win. A study on culture’s effect in eighty countries confirms the far-reaching and detrimental influence of traditional cultures (Norris & Inglehart, 2008). Even with affirmative action mechanisms like gender quotas, traditional attitudes still undermine women’s chances for electoral success (Norris & Inglehart, 2008). On a study on the islands in the Pacific region – a region with the lowest numbers of elected women - cultural beliefs were the main reason that levels of women in parliament remained low, despite international effort (Zetlin, 2014).
Where egalitarian political cultures have shown increases in women’s representation, some patriarchal cultures reflect a similar trend. This occurrence shows the importance of the context in which culture interacts. In some patriarchal cultures where women succeed, the preferred strategy chosen from the tool-kit is nepotism, where men in high roles choose women because of family connections (Krook, 2010). This happens in Latin American countries. In European countries, where women’s successes in education, employment, and cultural life has not translated into more women in parliaments, political education is pinpointed as another hindrance (Beshiri & Puka, 2014).
Culture does appear to have a role. But what exactly is it? Is it causal or does it simply interact with a larger obstacle? How do developing and developed countries differ? Writing on Indian politics, Dhanda (2000) asserts that there is “nothing particular”
about Indian culture that needs transformation for women to engage more in politics. She reasons that women’s relegation to the private sphere is an ubiquitous feature of all patriarchal cultures but women’s infiltration into politics is a challenge to the patriarchy.
Instead of focusing on changing culture, Dhanda suggests implementing quotas. Her suggestion reflects another perspective – using mechanisms to widen the tool-kit. Culture in itself will not enable women to enter politics. Instead, feminists should arm women with legal mechanisms that women can use to combat the patriarchal culture and enter the male-dominated field of politics.
Religion
Religion is one dimension of culture as it helps in shaping society. It can be the
tools from our kit; in others, it can add a few instruments. Before modern education, religious institutions were responsible for the dissemination of both sacred and secular knowledge (King, 1987). Examining world religions, King finds that religious authorities divided men and women, allowing men access to religious offices and placing women in secondary roles, preventing them access from secular knowledge. The interaction between the general culture and religion depends on the specific society that is being studied. Religion interacts with a culture by consolidating the traditional attitudes present in the culture (Wald & Calhoun-Brown, 2014). But religion can also provide women with networking skills and give them leadership positions that may be harder to attain outside religion. Some religions, through church participation and group gatherings, were the only vehicles through which women experienced autonomy and empowerment (Chong, 2006). Religion allowed women to practice their “nondomestic talents and abilities”
(Chong, 2006: 712) before they were allowed any space in the public sphere.
Religion can simultaneously empower women and restrain women; its particular effect is heavily dependent upon the society in which it acts. Religion has the dual power to “both liberate and oppress, injure and heal” (Chong, 2006: 718).
Structural Barriers
The structural explanation of women’s underrepresentation focuses on the gender gap in socioeconomic resources that facilitates political activity (Brady, Verba &
Schlozman, 1995; Elder, 2004). Women’s progress inside politics is often a reflection of their progress outside politics (Kenworthy & Malami, 1999). Political interest does not translate into political participation at any level. Resources like money, time, and civic skills, help to transform interests into action (Brady, Verba, & Schlozman, 1995).
Women lag behind men at the highest form of political participation - running for office.
Politicians and researchers identify the lack of women in the “eligibility pool” as a major reason. The eligibility pool refers to the “professional careers from which candidates are typically drawn and political careers are launched” (Elder, 2004: 30). In a large cross- country study, researchers find truth behind the "eligibility pool” argument, stating that of the five socioeconomic factors they studied, only the proportion of women in professional occupations is consistently associated with their representation in parliament (Kenworthy
& Malami, 1999). In this section, I review three socioeconomic resources that enable women to enter these eligibility pools and run for politics.
Education
Education’s importance is not overstated. Governments allocate a portion of their annual budgets to education and international organizations forge treaties to improve education worldwide. Its importance fuels university students’ protests for lower tuition and teachers’ strikes for higher wages. In political participation research, a similar consensus exists: higher levels of education lead to higher levels of political participation (Ballington & Karam, eds. 2005; Elder, 2008; Lovenduski, 1998; Mayer, 2011; Verba, et al., 1995). Evidence has been demonstrated in a number of countries including India (Spary, 2014) and Latin American countries (Escobar-Lemmon & Taylor, Robinson, 2005).
Access to education affects participation at a number of levels: voter turnout, civic engagement, political knowledge, and ultimately electoral politics. The largely uncontested view that education positively leads to political involvement has naturally led
government. It follows that women with higher levels of education are more likely to seek elective office. This is because education develops women’s cognitive skills, allowing them comprehend, engage, and analyze political content. It also gives them access to political issues, resulting in the attainment of political knowledge. Other than the enlightening effect of education, education is one way to acquire political capital by facilitating networking and the development civic skills. Moreover, education is correlated with socioeconomic status and income which are crucial factors when seeking office. Education empowers women by increasing their confidence, expanding their options, and helping them make better decisions. Educational attainment has begun to deteriorate the argument that there are no eligible women from which parties can recruit, as women’s presence increases among educational institutions.
College experience has a liberating effect on women’s attitudes towards traditional roles. Almost all the women in an American survey (95.6%) rejected the idea that women should remain at home and allow men to be the leaders of their country (Elder, 2004:9). This is in agreement with Sardernberg’s (2012) conceptualization of culture as open to re-negotiation and challenges – of “constant fluidity and contested meanings” (13:2012). In a much older study, Rule discovers that U.S. states which spend more on education have higher party recruitment levels of female candidates (1981: 68).
At the same time, a number of studies (Berinsky & Lenz, 2011; Campbell, 2009;
Hillygus, 2005; Kam & Palmer, 2008) have tested the relationship between education and political participation and found that the observed causal relationship may be spurious.
Focusing on higher education, Kam and Palmer test whether education is a direct cause of political participation or a proxy for “unobserved pre-adult experiences and
predispositions” (2008: 612). Essentially, college attendance is not an isolated factor but can be an effect of pre-existing characteristics. Instead of higher education causing political participation, there could be a confounding variable causing both enrolment higher education and political participation. Kam and Palmer offer parental characteristics and individual abilities as two examples of variables that could be the cause of college attendance and political participation (2008:613). In their study, they use a matching technique to create two groups whose political participation can be compared by having controlled for pre-adult experiences. What they discover is that once these pre- existing characteristics are accounted for, the effect of higher education is
“indistinguishable from zero” (2008:613). Caudillo (2014) finds that women who have been exposed to full-time working mothers have a higher likelihood of participating in political activity. Mothers’ employment could then be a confounding variable, challenging the causal relationship between education and political participation.
Evidence from Uganda, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Ghana also reveal that women who participate in literacy classes are more likely to send their children to school and monitor their progress (Department for International Development, 2005). These studies demonstrate the impact of the mother’s education. In a study which responds to Kam and Palmer’s work, Mayer (2011) also uses the matching technique and has contrasting results: educational advancement does lead to increased political participation. Moreover, higher levels of educational attainment also contribute to a higher female voting rate which in turn is expected to contribute to election of female candidates (Kenworthy &
Malami, 1999). Furthermore, Kam and Palmer analyze Nie, Junn, and Stehlik-Barry’s
leads to higher income and status. They show that this argument is weak because it still portrays education as an exogenous variable instead of a proxy. Campbell (2009) re- analyzes Nie, Junn, and Stehlik-Barry’s work as well as Kam and Palmer’s examination.
He argues that this sorting mechanism is useful, but only for electoral activity, of which competition is a hallmark.
Employment
Employment is critical when seeking elective office. High levels of women in the labour force is expected to lead to an increase in female parliamentarians because paid employment prepares people for politics. It provides people with “managerial skills and broader worldviews than are available in the household” (Rosenbluth, et al., 2006: 169).
Paid work requires people to perform certain tasks. The completion of these tasks contributes to the development of civic skills needed for politics. But entrance into the labour force does more than equip women with skills. It helps in the erosion of traditional gender roles (Anderson, 1975).
Despite the importance of employment, the labour force is another area that mirrors unequal gender relations. Glaringly, the wage gap between men and women continues to exist (Global Gender Gap, 2013). Without equal resources to male candidates, women are disadvantaged.
Participation in the labour force is connected to level of education. This connection between employment and education makes it difficult to identify causal relationships. For example, in many poor countries, with each additional year of schooling, people earn 10% higher wages. (Center for Global Development, 2002).
Income
Differences in income determine differences in political participation (Friedman, 2010). An individual’s income is positively correlated with his or her political participation (Beramendi & Anderson, 2008). The effects of income have been found to be linear where individuals below the median income in society are less likely to participate versus those above the median income who are more likely to participate (Beramendi & Anderson, 2008). Income can act as a proxy, identifying people who have more resources, education, and time to participate in political activity. Higher income can also offer women more leeway in considering running for office (Lawless & Fox, 2004:
19). People with lower income do not have the same access to public office and, unless recruited, do not consider running as much as higher income persons would. Income is also important in creating political space where people can mobilize, gather, and pursue agendas (International IDEA, 2005). Without the ability to meet basic needs, political space is unattainable.
Institutional Barriers
Political institutions are sets of rules that shape human interaction (Kittilson, 2010). They determine who gets what, who does what, and who decides (Rao & Kelleher, 2003). Two political institutions - electoral systems and gender quotas – affect women’s representation. I review the literature on these institutions and introduce another: the political party.
Electoral System
The electoral system considerably impacts female political participation (Kenworthy & Malami, 1999, Wängnerud, 2009). Women’s representation increases
under proportional representation (PR) systems (Wängnerud, 2009). Three features aid women: party lists, proportional representation, and large magnitude (Wängnerud :2009:54). Magnitude refers to the number of politicians elected within a constituency. In single-member districts (SMDs), each constituency elects one politician; in multi-member districts (a feature of PR systems), each constituency elects more than one politician. A worldwide comparative analysis shows that party lists and multi-member districts (MMDs) improve women’s chances. (Kenworthy & Malami, 1999). These characteristics reduce competitiveness and risk which encourages parties to nominate more women and voters to select women. Multi-member districts tend to be less adversarial because of the inclusion of more candidates and the lowered pressure to eliminate all other candidates. That attracts women who may have been intimidated by antagonistic campaigns. PR systems also mitigate unfavourable attitudes towards women by party leaders and voters (Kenworthy & Malami, 1999; Wängnerud, 2009; King, 2002).
Furthermore, by removing the “non zero-sum nature of SMDs,” (King, 2002: 163) MMDs give campaign sponsors more confidence in women’s ability to win, and, as a result, removes the disincentive of financially supporting women. If this relationship is causal, will a change from a multimember district to a single-member district result in less women in politics? An analysis of American states that switched from MMDs to SMDs shows that there is a negative effect on female representation when moving to a single-member district (King, 2002). That further confirms the important role of the electoral system.
Practically, electoral systems may be less beneficial to women’s success than theory suggests (Roberts, et al. 2012; Salmond, 2006). Studies do not account for
differing contexts among countries. This explains why electoral systems have small or even no effects in some countries. To test this theory, researchers analyzed the difference in elections before and after electoral change and found that, although positive change occurs in most countries, the change is small (Roberts, et al. 2012). The change is between one-third and one-half the size of the expected change (Salmond, 2006).
Changing a country’s electoral system does not necessarily translate into greater female descriptive representation. Research indicates differences between developed and developing countries (Kenworthy & Malami, 1999; Matland, 1998). While many factors identified in research do lead to positive results, their effect may be triggered by a certain level of development (Matland, 1998). This indicates the existence of a threshold. If a minimum level of development is not met, “the variables that assist women gaining representation in developed countries simply have no effect” (Matland, 1998: 120). While PR systems do help women, this may only occur if background conditions are met (Roberts, et al, 2012). These findings show factors interact with the social context in which they exist. Large magnitude, for instance, ceases being effective after a percentage of women has been elected (Matland, 1993). In Norway, after there were 20% women in parliament, district magnitude no longer had an effect (Matland, 1993).
The effectiveness of a proportional electoral system depends on a multitude of factors. That dependence makes it difficult to determine whether a PR electoral system leads to a representation of women or whether it merely interacts with a number of other contextual variables.
Gender Quotas
Another institution praised for its effect is the gender quota. Policies determine what the government considers when allocating resources. When a government implements gender-equal policies they set a tone for the country's attitudes by providing
“concrete and more subtle cues that help people make sense of the social and political landscape” (Kittilson, 2010, p. 218). Advocates believe that quotas can advance women’s status in all levels of society. In five Nordic countries – Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Norway – political parties have adopted voluntary party quotas. They resulted in an increase of women parliamentarians (International IDEA). In countries with extremely low female representation, quotas are often absent. Quotas act as a legal mechanism that not only encourages women to seek office but also prevents masculinized institutions from excluding them. Gender quotas mobilize women into groups, allowing them to identify themselves as a united group. Quotas also act as a “fast track” option to issues in representation (Dahlerup, 2005). Despite their popularity in research, policies alone are insufficient in counteracting women’s unequal representation (Rae & Kelleher, 2003). In a study on Latin American countries, the positive effects of quotas were offset by informal institutions (Zetterberg, 2009). The concentrated power in party leaders, for instance, resulted in party leaders choosing women whom they knew versus women who were qualified. This is one example of the balance between formal and informal institutions. In another country, Timor-Leste, gender-equal policies were not effective until women began to act upon them by educating other women about the legislation and making opportunities available (Costa, et. al. 2013). Similar to Latin American countries Informal institutions constrain women in Timor-Leste. The women’s
caucus remained “nested within the traditional way of doing politics” (Costa, et. al., 2013:
345).
Political Parties
The political party is a hallmark of democracies. The party, as a group of people with the aim of representing a citizenry, has key roles in the democratic process. Political parties recruit candidates, nominate candidates, and endorse candidates. Even if voters want to elect women, voters are not given the power to nominate candidates (Dahlerup, 2005). That exclusive power makes the party a gatekeeper to electoral success. Parties’
attitudes towards women also have psychological consequences. Research has indicated that when parties fail to recruit women for prominent positions, women’s engagement in politics suffers (Reingold and Harrell, 2010, p281). When parties do not adopt policies that are favourable towards female representation, they become the primary barrier to an increase of women parliamentarians (Krook, 2010).
When parties within a country recruit mostly male candidates, a masculinized atmosphere is created – one that signals to women that they do not belong in the political arena. This forms the institutional culture which is the “collection of values, history, and ways of doing things that form the unstated rules of the game in an organization” (Rao &
Kelleher, 2005:66). Institutional culture is critical in defining the organization’s values, which is often contradictory to its mission statement (Rao & Kellher, 2005: 66).
Formally, women are granted equality within democracies. But informally, parties’ stance on equal opportunity of women is considered mere lip service. Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard delivered a speech about sexism and misogyny in the House of
about women in politics by exposing then Leader of Opposition’s sexism. Tony Abbott as Opposition leader took a strong position against sexism, asserting that those who hold sexist views do not belong in high office. Gillard reminded him of his sexist views by identifying remarks he made in interviews. When asked about women in politics, Abbott answered, “Yeah, I completely agree, but what if men are by physiology or temperament, more adapted to exercise authority or to issue command?” and in another, he expressed a similar sentiment, “If it's true, Stavros, that men have more power generally speaking than women, is that a bad thing?” (Sydney Morning Herald, October 2012). Gillard’s speech was pivotal in that it addressed the issue of formal expressions of concern and substantive action. Even if women possess the skills considered necessary for a political career, the biases of gatekeepers can be the largest obstacle to qualified women willing to run. Furthermore, if the mass attitudes towards women in a country have begun to shift towards gender-equal culture, sexism can be entrenched within the political institutions (Wängnerud, 2009).
A long-standing argument, called the “role model” hypothesis, states that the presence of female parliamentarians encourages female political participation. Role model effects result in symbolic representation (Zetterberg, 2009). Female presence in governments positively affects women citizens’ self-perceptions and encourages them to participate (Zetterberg, 2009). This is because women in high political positions are signs to female voters that they, too, can attain that position. Other research, however, contradicts this hypothesis, suggesting that role model effects result when the first women in society are elected. As the number of women in parliament continues to increase, other barriers hinder the expected empowering effects (Brockman, 2014).
Despite the consensus in research about the importance of descriptive representation, party leaders often justify their recruitment of mainly male candidates by stating that there are not enough eligible women to recruit from – an argument known as the “supply and demand” model (Krook, 2010). Yet, women today outnumber men in educational institutions worldwide and continue to increase their numbers in the labour force (UNESCO, 2014). Two theories explain why male leaders rarely recruit female candidates: the outgroup effect and the distribution effect (Conway, 2001). The outgroup effect refers to party leaders’ discrimination against those unlike themselves. The distribution effect, on the other hand, refers to gatekeepers’ biases that men are more likely to succeed in elections than women because men have always been successful in politics (Conway, 2001).
Both effects are heightened when political parties are centralized. Centralization is a critical organizational structure because it indicates the “distribution of control over decision-making within the party hierarchy,” (Caul, 1998:80). Centralization can be beneficial to women’s representation because it concentrates the power within one visible figure. That person, normally the party leader, can be pressured by women’s organizations to adapt measures to increase female representation (Caul, 1998). But centralization can also be harmful towards female representation because it can magnify a leader’s biases towards women, particularly if he is unchallenged by civic society and his party members.
Two other party organizational features impact women’s representation:
institutionalization and the location of candidate nomination (Caul, 1998).
institutionalization can bar women from accessing office. High levels of
institutionalization foster women’s participation because it denotes a rule-oriented process. If the rules do not discriminate against women, women may have better prospects in a highly institutionalized political environment (Caul, 1998).
The location of nomination refers to where a candidate is nominated – in a town (a local level) or at the national level (a centralized level). Because women often work in community politics, localized nomination is more welcoming towards female candidates, enabling them to eventually advance to the national level.
The political party can have great control over women’s political access. The connection between political parties and the political culture is the missing link in explaining why women’s underrepresentation continues to be a worldwide issue. Varying levels of economic, social, and cultural advancement, a proportional electoral system, and the presence of quotas do not result in more female parliamentarians. There is no formula for increased female representation. But there will always be a context in which these factors operate. This is the political culture. The political culture interacts with the larger general culture. The identified factors intervene between these two levels (Lehman, 1972). Lehman offers a revolutionary movement as an example. The success of that movement depends on the new regime’s power and effectiveness along with
“intrasocietal cleavages” (Lehman, 1972: 365). Political institutions wield immense power and the culture practiced within those organizations can exert great influence on women’s presence in politics.
Chapter 3: A Gender-‐Equality Culture
Formal equality between men and women has been present in Belize’s constitution since independence. The right to vote, a major struggle for women worldwide, was granted to both sexes simultaneously. Despite these formal measures of gender equality, gender equity is challenged by informal constraints such as traditional gender roles, stereotypes, and socialization. Culture’s role is maximized in small states where people know each other and many personally know their leaders (Vernon, 2012).
Culture is fluid; the tools within your tool-kit expand or diminish. More than a fixed system of shared meanings among a group of people, culture is ever-changing, allowing it to be challenged and values to be “re-signified” (Sardenberg, 2012). The perceptions of gender is “always social and cultural constructions and, as such, open to challenge and change,” (Sardenberg, 2012: 6). A gender-equality culture provides women with opportunities for upward mobility; the opposite imposes traditional values and restricts women’s progress (Wängnerud, 2009: 56).
Three cultures – the Mestizo/Hispanic, the Mayan, and the Caribbean – largely influence Belizeans. Belize’s geographical location in Central America contributes to the heavy presence of Hispanic culture throughout the country. Through migration, the Mestizo became the largest population (Census of Belize, 2010). During the Caste War of Yucatan in the nineteenth century, thousands of Maya and Mestizo fled to Belize for refuge; many remained and settled in the Northern part of the country. But the first settlers in Belize were the Mayans, whose Maya ruins remind us of the great civilization that dwelled in Belize. They continue to reside in communities throughout the country, following their own traditions and fighting for land rights. The third pillar of cultural
influence is the Caribbean. From Belize’s British colonization, its parliamentary democracy, and its Caribbean Community (CARICOM) passport, the country’s identity is decidedly Caribbean (Vernon, 2012). These three cultures intersect in their treatment of women and their hierarchical gender relations. Each is a male-dominated culture which views women as subordinate to men. Their traditional gender roles and expectations of men and women curtail the behaviour of Belizeans and inform men and women how they should behave.
“Machismo” describes the hyper-masculinity existent in Latin American communities. A “real man” is aggressive and invulnerable while his enemies are assigned feminine traits (Stevens, 1965; Basham, 1976). Men are dominant while women are submissive and accepting. Basham captures the macho personality: “The macho is a man who knows more than he tells, who conquers women at his pleasure, who suffers no injustice without response, and who, above all, never evinces fear” (1976:127).
Machismo is often juxtaposed with Mexican culture. The amplified masculinity creates rigid gender roles. Virility is prized in men; virginity in women. Women in this highly masculinized context belong in the home as mothers and wives.
The Caribbean society is similarly patriarchal with overtones of intensified masculinity where women are dependent economically, emotionally, and socially upon men. Popular music like dancehall and soca presents women as sexual beings available for the pleasure of men. Though some social scientists have analyzed such music as sexually liberating and empowering for women, the prevailing message in popular Caribbean music displays a “macho, paternalistic, disciplining, oppressive attitude toward women and women's sexuality”(Frank, 2007:176). This attitude pervades all areas of
